Local opinions on state minimum
wage increase proposal - page A5
www.wallowa.com
Enterprise, Oregon
April 1, 2015
$1
Bankruptcy sale nets creditors $100K
About 500 attended auction to liquidate Dougherty assets; judge issues arrest warrant for missing couple
By Rocky Wilson
Wallowa County Chieftain
The small-claims credi-
tors of Douglas and Katheri-
na Dougherty should receive
about $100,000 in monetary
relief following a U.S. Bank-
ruptcy Court-ordered auction
held Saturday, March 28, on
former Dougherty property
along Highway 82 just north-
west of Wallowa.
About 200 registered bid-
ders, plus some online bid-
ders, were among a crowd of
about 500 people who attend-
ed the eight-hour auction or-
dered to liquidate the remain-
ing assets of the Dougherty
couple who have not been
located since U.S. Bankrupt-
cy Judge Randall L. Dunn,
based in Portland, issued a
warrant for their arrest March
17. Ordered to appear per-
sonally on March 13 to show
cause “why a warrant for their
arrest should not be issued in
light of multiple and manifest
failures to comply with vari-
ous court orders,” Douglas
and Katherina Dougherty did
not appear on that day and
the arrest warrant was issued
shortly thereafter.
Jeanne Huffman, contract-
ed by the U.S. Department
of Justice as a Bankruptcy
Trustee for the District of
PCM proposes to give parolees
A PLACE TO CALL HOME
Oregon and the trustee as-
signed to the Dougherty case,
said, “In 20 years of working
with bankruptcies, I’ve never
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cult.”
In the words of Doug Ma-
con, owner of Macon Broth-
ers Auctioneers, of Walla
Walla, which joined with
Booker Auction Co., of Elto-
pia, Wash., to stage the auc-
tion, about 650 lots of items
were sold in one day after
the district bankruptcy court
in Portland agreed to jointly
administer the assets of three
different legal entities.
See AUCTION, Page A2
Barreto talks
minimum
wage, wolves
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Steve Tool/Chieftain
PCM, which already has a garden plot and raises chickens and turkeys, would use profits from these activities to help
fund the program for parolees.
Couple wants transitional
house to be ‘transformational’
By Steve Tool
W
Wallowa County Chieftain
allowa County native Neal Isley and his wife,
Corrine, of Point of Connection Ministries,
hope to soon offer transitional housing to pa-
rolees and those on supervised probation in
the area. The goal of the program is to help
residents of the home adjust to life outside the correctional
system by teaching life skills, offering mentoring/counseling
and the possibility of employment through acquired job skills.
The prospective home is located at the former Wallowa
Valley Family Youth Center located at 83346 Joseph High-
way, just north of Joseph. The Isleys call it “transformation-
al housing” because they hope to transform residents’ lives
through the program.
See HOME, Page A9
C HIEFTAIN
WA L L O WA
C O U N T Y
Wallowa County’s
Newspaper Since 1884
Volume 132 Issue No. 50
© 2015 EO Media Group
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Point of Connection founders, from left, Neal and Corrine
Isley. The Isleys intend to lend a helping hand to parolees
and people on probation in their transition to becoming
productive citizens.
ENTERPRISE — Oregon
District 58 Representative
Greg Barreto, Republican,
traveled to Enterprise for a
town hall meeting on Satur-
day, March 28, accompanied
by his wife, Chris, and chief
of staff, Darry Breeden.
Wallowa County commis-
sioners Susan Roberts and
Mike Hayward also attended
the gathering, which was held
at Community Connection.
Barreto, of Cove, is a
freshman representative. He
owns hydraulic equipment
company Barreto Manufac-
turing in La Grande.
After introducing himself,
Barreto led the meeting with a
short prayer before launching
into a detailed, but concise,
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eight weeks in the Oregon
Legislature. He said he ini-
tially felt hindered by his lack
of legislative experience. “I
felt like this was something I
wanted to do, something I was
called to do. I had the tools,
but I didn’t know the job,”
Barreto said.
He said he worked straight
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only taking time off to attend
church, and this intensive
routine helped to get his feet
beneath him. He sits on three
legislative committees: Edu-
cation, Agriculture and Natu-
ral Resources, and also Busi-
ness and Labor.
Barreto said he found
the lack of time particularly
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with meetings and sessions,
he found early morning and
late evening the only time he
has to study and understand
Ace Hardware plans to move
By Rocky Wilson
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — With the arduous
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it now behind them, the three owners of
Cameron’s Wallowa County Ace Hardware
remain many weeks away from moving out
of the rented Enterprise site they’ve occu-
pied on NW 2nd Street for 15 years and
into their own building a mere two blocks
away.
Store owners Ray, Patty, and son Nick
Cameron just purchased half a city block
that long was occupied by Bronson Lumber
at the northeast corner of North and River
streets. The owners now plan an extensive
remodel before relocating an inventory in
excess of 50,000 items.
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gotiations still pending, declined late last
week to name the contractor who will per-
form the extensive remodel scheduled to
begin this week. That remodel will include
knocking down and rebuilding walls and
could last as long as six or eight weeks.
Ray Cameron explains the reason for
the move in simple terms.
“We need more room and we want to
own our own building,” he says.
The current building on NW 2nd Street,
co-owned by Don Foster and Tom Cutter,
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Oregon
District
58
Representative Greg Barreto,
addressing the audience
at his March 28 town hall
meeting
in
Enterprise,
makes an emphatic gesture
using a card he happens to
be holding.
the many bills the Legislature
votes on.
Barreto also spoke of his
frustrations as a minority
party member in the various
committees he belongs to,
particularly the Business and
Labor Committee. “That’s
got to be the most frustrating
committee I’ve ever been on.
The things that come through
there are the antithesis of how
I think,” the representative
said.
The camaraderie of House
members, regardless of politi-
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ant surprise to him, however.
“There isn’t a one in the oth-
er party that I couldn’t go up
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their desk and just start visit-
ing,” Barreto said.
See BARRETO, Page A9
ADC seeks
approval to
sell water
downstream
By Rocky Wilson
Wallowa County Chieftain
departments.
The larger Bronson Lumber building has
been purchased from the husband and wife
team of Mace and Sherry Cadwell, of
Union County.
Although still under re-
view, a request in early
2014 from Wallowa Lake
Dam’s owner, the Associat-
ed Ditch Companies, to have
4,200 acre-feet of lake water
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al growers in the Umatilla Ba-
sin along the Columbia River
has drawn unanimous opposi-
tion from the six entities that
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While much of the dissent
registered during the 30-day
comment period that ended
April 24 last year revolved
around the lack of public in-
put surrounding the permit
request and where the excess
water would come from, com-
ments from the Wallowa’s
Future Foundation and from
See MOVE, Page A9
See WATER, Page A10
Rocky Wilson/Chieftain
Nick Cameron, right, and father Ray Cameron are two of three owners of the Ace
Hardware store in Enterprise that soon will be relocated to the former Bronson
Lumber structure two blocks away that Cameron’s Wallowa County Ace Hardware
just purchased.
includes 4,800 square feet of retail space
compared to about 6,000 square feet at the
new location. “We will expand our lines of
paint, electrical, and plumbing supplies,”
says Ray Cameron, who then adds that the
additional space will allow Cameron’s Ace
Hardware to stock additional items in all